For better or worse
by MelGal3
Summary: The first chapter is the best summary I can give you. Just read and tell me what you think. Of course E/O. A certain suprise guest knocks at Olivia's door. It will change everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:**

 **Sets in Surrender Benson: Olivia is held against her will by William Lewis in her apartment when a certain suprise guest knocks at Olivia's door. It will change everything.**

 **For better or worse**

Her mouth was still covered with duct tape, to high the risk she would scream in pain and alert the neighbors. The duct tape wasn't necessary though, she wasn't going to give him any satisfaction. She wouldn't scream under his touch even when every fiber of her being wanted to. Her wrists and ankles were tied to the chair, giving her no chance to fight against his torture. The only possible way to fight him were her eyes. Two 'big beautiful eyes' as he called them earlier when he woke her up rather roughly. Right now, she was staring him down- no sign of weakness in her eyes. He wouldn't break her, wouldn't get through to her no matter how long he kept this game going.

He lit another cigarette and took a deep drag before blowing it back into her face, but she already knew he would do that- he had done it at least four times in the last past hours. It was always the same and she knew exactly what was coming next. He would burn her again. But where this time? Somehow she felt more desperate than before and she swallowed hard, trying to keep the panic under control- forcing herself, her eyes to stay calm. She didn't know if she could take one more burn.

Lewis bent down to her and smirked when he watched her swallowing hard, knowing it wouldn't take her long to finally give in. He had to confess she had been the toughest of his girls so far and mentally it nearly drove him crazy that it took him so long to finally break her or at least get through to her. She wasn't playing along as he wanted her to- he wanted her to suffer, to beg for mercy. He knew it. He knew it, the moment he saw her in the interrogation room that he would have his fun with her, that she would be a challenge for him but he didn't expect her to remain so calm, so fearless after what he had already done to her though.

"Where do you wanna have the next one?"

He asked rather to himself than to her and chuckled when Olivia only puffed through her nose and turned her head away from him. By now he had already burned her on the upper arm, her forearm and her chest. His eyes wandered over her body, coming up with an idea where he'd burn her next. His smirk only grew wider and he took another drag before he would press it into her skin.

He stood up and positioned his body right in front of hers, he parted her legs with his foot and stepped in between her legs, bending down. With his free hand he grabbed hold of the back of her head, twisting his hand roughly in her hair as he pulled her head backwards. He felt her body stiffen under his touch and couldn't help but smirk at her attempt to control her emotions but he could see it in her eyes. Fear. Her eyes looked up at him, meeting his evil gaze and his grin only grew wider.

"Fearless Detective Olivia Benson." He stated mockingly before he bent down to came face to face with her, "Not so tough anymore, are we?" he grinned and watched when she panted through her nose and wiggled her head, trying to get away from him.

Olivia tried to prepare herself for the coming pain but couldn't stop the anger to rise inside of her. She was so furious. Furious for being in this situation, for being tied up in this chair and hold captive by this son of a bitch. God, she'd give anything to be able to punch him in the face right now and right there. It appeared clearly in her head- ripping herself free from the restrains and knocking this goofy grin out of his face. She couldn't control the anger anymore and pulled harder on the restrains but it didn't budge an inch. Instead she could feel the pain bringing heat nearing the skin of her neck, making her still and stopping any attempts to pull free for the moment. She glanced back up at him but he wouldn't meet her pleading eyes, his gaze was fixed on the hot cigarette sizzling in his hand.

She was thankful though- she didn't want him to see her insecurity. And so she closed them, not wanting to give away how afraid she was. She didn't notice when exactly she had stopped breathing, since when she was holding her breath until she could hear her own heart beat clearly in her ears. She knew it must be close, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and bit on her tongue.

Making her wait for the strike was part of the drill and so he took his time, focusing on every inch he was nearing her tender skin. She should feel it, should be afraid of the moment the cigarette finally reached its destination but most of all she had to learn that she couldn't do a thing against it and had to wait when he'd strike. He'd make her learn she had no control over the situation- not even about herself anymore. He knew it would take a lot of time to break her, to make her give up. Everyone had a trigger point, a border you need to cross for someone to give in. He didn't know yet where this point was but he was determined to find it- find her weak point and so he'd break her. Even if it was the last thing he'd ever do.

 _Knock knock._

Lewis pulled back abruptly and looked at the door uncertain if he'd heard it right, if there had actually been a knock on the door. He listened but didn't hear anything, still he let go of Olivia's hair and put the cigarette back in the ashtray on the floor. His gaze now wandering to Olivia, who he could tell had heard it too. Her eyes betraying her when he recognized a glimpse of hope in them.

Lewis brought his forefinger up to his mouth and glared back at Olivia. Her heart beat had increased and her breathing had got faster, making it difficult for her to breathe through her nose. "Shhh.." he signalized and pulled out his gun from the back of his trousers, which he pointed halfhearted at her to make his point.

She nodded slightly to satisfy him but she knew for sure she wouldn't just sit there and wait until her only hope of getting out of there disappeared. She knew she had to do something, draw attention to whoever was behind that door. So someone would at least know she was in there but she couldn't risk his or her life neither. She had to act fast and well thought if she wanted to use the only chance she might had got.

 _Knock knock._

She froze when the person behind the door knocked again, making her hold her breath for a second. Something about the way it had knocked made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. It was familiar. A certain way of knocking, firmly but still soft. _No.. it couldn't be.. No, it couldn't be.._

Lewis seemed to sense her uneasiness and quickly glared at her, telling her noiseless to keep quiet.

"Liv!" the voice behind the door called out. "I know you are there. Please open up."

Her breath hitched and she couldn't help but feel dizzy as the realization hit her. She wanted to scream out, telling him to run but with duct tape on her mouth only muffled sounds came from her. Lewis's hand was quickly on her mouth, silencing any audible sounds coming from her completely but it was to late.

"Liv, I'm not going until you let me in." he called out and banged again against the door.

Lewis growled in frustration and bent down to Olivia. "Make one sound and he's dead before he hits the floor!" His cold eyes boring into hers. She believed him, he'd kill him without hesitation. Tears formed in her eyes at the thought of him ending up dead because of her- she wouldn't let that happen. She nodded quickly, her eyes pleading him.

He smirked at her reaction and slowly removed his hand from her mouth. His gun drawn at the door he made his way to it. Had he just discovered her breaking point?

Reaching the door, he hid the gun behind his back and unlocked the door. He took one last glance back at her, making sure she would still keep quiet before he grabbed the handle and twisted it open. He opened the door only enough to reveal his face and smiled friendly at the man in the hallway.

Right in front of him was none other than Elliot Stabler.

 **TBC**

 **What do you think? Should I continue? It was just an idea which came into my mind and I couldn't get it out of my head.  
PLEASE REVIEW. (=**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here comes the 2. Chapter.  
A/N: **I want to thank those who added this story to their fav's, who are now following this story and who reviewed to my first Chapter. This means alot to me, espacially reviews make my day.  
So a huge thank you to: spacekitten2700, WriterKC, once upon a galaxy, FayeVDM, Gay4Hargitay, swordtail600, NoFearOnlyLove21, Avidreader194  
To everyone who's new to this story, enjoy and review. (:

I hope I won't dissapoint you and you'll enjoy the second Chapter as well.

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 **2\. Chapter**

 _Reaching the door, he hid the gun behind his back and unlocked the door. He took one last glance back at her, making sure she would be quiet before he grabbed the handle and twisted it open. He opened the door only enough to reveal his face and smiled friendly at the man in the hallway._

 _Right in front of him was none other than Elliot Stabler._

He surveyed the man in front of him from top to toe, he was a well-built man in his late forties maybe even early fifties he guessed, but he was a little smaller than himself, nothing he couldn't handle he decided quickly as his eyes landed back on the confused face in front of him.

"Yes?" he smiled politely, "What can I do for you?"

Stunned, Elliot took a small step back and eyed the stranger in front of him. "Who are you?" his eyebrows knit together in both, confusion and frustration. His eyes flew to the apartment number on the door to make sure he had knocked on the right door, although he was sure he'd find her door even blind. After checking he'd actually knocked at 4D's apartment door, his gaze came back to the stranger in front of him. Probably her boyfriend?

Obviously, Olivia must be well acquainted with the man who'd answered her door but Elliot couldn't help but feel uneasy with the sight in front of him. A strange feeling was rising in his gut but he couldn't tell if it was because of the man in general or the possibility of him being Olivia's boyfriend. Clearly they must be close when Olivia would allow him to answer the door. But still, he couldn't shake his concerns off. Something about this guy didn't feel right, something was off with him.

Elliot cleared his throat, "Where's Olivia?" his voice now lower than before; his attitude had changed.

His body tensed automatically, his eyes focusing on every detail on the stranger's face. His smile seemed sincere and polite but his eyes were cold. They were glassy, the pupils dilated- had he been taking drugs? The skin on his face was pale and sweaty. His right hand was resting on the doorframe slightly above his hand. Elliot couldn't see much more since the rest of his body was hiding behind the door.

Lewis gripped the weapon behind his back tighter, the urge to simply kill the guy in front of him growing with every passing second but the polite smile never left his face. He opened his mouth slightly and gulped some air in while starting to speak, "Uh, she's still at work. I'm sorry buddy." He shrugged and faked sympathy.

Elliot nodded and clenched his jaw, knowing the possibility of her being still at work was high.

"I'll tell her you were here. What's your name?" Curiosity taking over, he wanted to know who caused such an effect on Olivia.

Maybe he was simply overreacting, Elliot thought. He should trust Olivia's judgment, after all she had good knowledge in human nature and it had to mean something she'd let somebody else answer the door or even be in her apartment when she wasn't even there herself. He was probably just frustrated over the fact that she had a boyfriend. _Come on Elliot, what'd you expect after two years?_

"That won't be necessary, but thanks anyway." Elliot said and waved his hand defeated. He raised his head once more to look at the strangers face. Something was odd about him, he couldn't help it no matter how much he tried to shake it off.

Elliot sighed and turned on his heels, ready to take off but a hushed noise from inside the apartment stopped him dead in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder while turning back around, his eyes never leaving the form in front of him. He couldn't ignore his instincts any longer- something _was_ off.

"What was that? You sure she isn't home?" he asked but didn't wait for Lewis to answer as he stormed past him, pushing the door easily open and stepped inside the apartment.

x.x.x.x

Olivia's stomach lurched when she heard Elliot's last reply and she knew he'd leave anytime now. She needed to do something, needed to draw his attention toward her - show him that she was indeed home, needing help. Part of her didn't want Elliot to get involved, fearing for his safety, but a bigger part of her was scared as hell for what was going to happen when he'd leave and she'd be alone with Lewis again. Unbidden images of what he had done to Alice Parker invaded her mind and she just panicked at the thought of what he would do to her as soon as the two of them would be alone again.

 _..._

" _What I did? You should be so lucky somebody does that to you." he said, their faces inches apart when he briefly dropped his gaze to her lips, emphasizing the last word, only to bring his eyes back to hers afterwards. This moment, looking directly in his cold eyes was enough to send shivers down her spine but Nick quickly brought her out of her thoughts by slamming his hands on the table, protesting and threatening Lewis._

 _Recovering quickly and finding her composure she stepped behind Nick to reassure him. She needed to play along, for Alice Parker._

" _How?" she said whilst taking a chair from the table and sitting next to Lewis. She forced herself to give him a smile, even when she only managed a sly one- knowing the urge to boast must be huge inside of him, she'd use that to make him confess. "Tell me."_

" _Sure sweetheart, what do you wanna hear?" he said._

" _Whatever you've got." Olivia replied._

" _You mean like, how disturbing it would be to make a… fine, educated, cultured woman like that disrobe." he told her and she felt Nick tensing up behind her when he continued, "How humiliating it would be."_

 _Her own body started to react too and she couldn't stop the goose bumps forming on her bare forearms. She didn't know how to reply, it cost her every strength in her being not to strike out but to stay calm._

 _He continued, "How she might try to... cover herself with her hands."_

 _The tension in the room was unbearable and the way he spoke, the way his eyes wandered above her frame made her feel uncomfortable in her own skin. She suddenly felt dirty, disgusted to even be in the same room with him and his phantasies. She caught herself staring blankly forward, her smile long gone while silence filled the small room. She blinked the thoughts away, freeing herself from the disturbing imaginations in her head and moved a bit in the chair. Finally snapping out of it she tilted her head and forced an interested expression, "Go on."_

 _He didn't lose any time, "You wanna hear how I tied her to the bed…" he grinned and continued, "-not too tight so I could watch her struggle."_

 _His grin faded briefly when he watched her expression, "No? Not your thing, huh?" he teased her but she couldn't get herself to respond._

" _Oh-," his face lit up again, "What about if I made her get down on her knees... forced myself inside of her or... do you wanna hear about the pyro techniques? How I put out my cigarettes on her."_

...

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to force the imaginations aside. Counting on the fact that Lewis wouldn't risk alerting the whole building by shooting Elliot in the hallway, she opened her eyes and stamped her feet as good and as hard as possible and called out for Elliot through the duct tape.

She didn't know if he'd heard her until she heard him storming toward her and within seconds he burst through the door, their eyes met immediately and the world seemed to stand still for the moment.

Her brown ones met his blue ones, a mixture of hope and fear in hers met his shocked and worried ones. These beautiful blue eyes of him made her desperate to reach out for him, reach out for security she so desperately needed. Instead she found herself still tightly bound to a chair unable to reach him. She felt tears well up in her eyes, ready to spill over.

Two years of absence.

She had missed him for two long years. Her heart had been arching to see him for so long and now, he was finally here, in her apartment, but she'd never imagined it would be like this.

Seeing him again in the middle of her worst nightmare.

Trust had never been a friend of hers and therefore she had trouble to let people in and open up to them but with Elliot she had managed to find someone she could trust. He'd always had her back and she'd have his, they were partners. Though, she kept the most of her issues to herself and tried to cope with everything on her own. She could do it, after all she had been by herself her whole life. She had maintained her independence and had never asked anyone for help or bothered anyone with her problems. And then she had found herself in the middle of a chaos named Simon Marsden and though she hadn't asked or said anything he had been there.

She had learned the hard way that she could rely on him when she needed him. He'd had her back- he'd been there when she needed cover up, when she needed time to fix things. Even when she screwed up and let a serial rapist escape he'd covered her ass. She had never needed help before, let alone get help when she needed it. Since then she had trusted him with all of her heart to have her back.

Sealview changed a lot though and she'd built up walls around herself again. She needed to sort things out alone, be for herself for the time being. She had to survive on her own- she couldn't rely on anyone's help. Who had she tried to fool? She couldn't count on anybody but herself, she wouldn't wait for someone to come to her rescue- she needed to take care of herself. But deep down inside she wanted to believe she could rely on Elliot, deep down she even knew he'd be there when she needed him. After all they were partners, right?

He hadn't disappointed her so far. Elliot had always been there when she needed him even when nobody believed her, when all evidence was pointing against her he'd believe she didn't kill that biker. They had even found her DNA and he'd refused to believe the evidence but decided he'd trust her, he'd believe her- again he'd had her back and she couldn't thank him enough for being there for her when she needed him.

And suddenly, he left. Just like that their partnership was over, their friendship was over.

Without saying a word he'd left. He had simply walked away from her without bothering to talk to her or at least say goodbye. Until now she hadn't heard anything from him. Hell, she didn't even know if he was still living in New York since she had been at their house once to find it for sale.

Just like that he had walked out of her live, leaving her back on her own to cope with everything alone. Only to be back now? Having her back in her darkest hour? _Ironic._

He'd taken her heart years ago, only to wrench it in his hands, rip it in two and never bothered to give it back to her. And now he was there, standing in the middle of her living room with those innocent blue eyes staring back at her, bringing her broken and vulnerable heart with him.

It was too much for her to handle- the more her thoughts wandered, the more her body took in the sight in front of her, her nose smelling his distinct and all too familiar scent, her eyes taking in every detail about his form- the more her eyes continued watering. Her glassy eyes met his gaze once more, sensing his discomfort, his shock- the fear in them. And she felt so sorry for getting him in this mess, to put his life at risk so easily. Without saying anything at all, her sorrowful eyes did. They were apologizing to him, pleading him for forgiveness before she closed them and lowered her head a bit. She needed to control her emotions. She just couldn't give away that much because she knew, her tormenter- a sadistic psychopath - would use it against her. She could only hope it wasn't too late, that he hadn't noticed.

He was frozen in place by seeing her like this, helpless and hurt- being tied to a chair in her own living room. It literally ripped his heart in two to look into her haunted eyes, which were pleading back at him. He opened his mouth to say something to her, to tell her it was ok but no words came out- instead he reached for the weapon on his hip only to find it wasn't there, he had totally forgotten the fact that he wasn't a cop anymore.

He wanted to turn around and strike, attack the son of a bitch but the feeling of cold barrel pressing against the back of his skull made him freeze in place once more.

He lifted his hands in surrender but his eyes stayed firmly on the sight in front of him. He took in her vulnerable frame, her exhausted composure and every bruise, every cut. Her make-up was slightly smeared around her eyelids underlining the ugly bruise which was slowly forming on her left eye. Knowing bruises don't come easily on Olivia, he assumed her attacker had hit her pretty hard to cause such a bruise. Anger build up inside of him and he thought about just giving it a try and strike him with his elbow.

"Don't even think about it!" he heard him growl from behind him, followed by a sharp click, which he knew meant the gun was now loaded.

Olivia's head shot up abruptly at the sound of that but all she could do was watch helplessly as Lewis quickly pulled the gun back only to slam it forwards again with full force, hitting the back of Elliot's head with the butt of the gun. She shrieked in shock the moment it collided with his skull, making Elliot fall to the floor noiselessly and limply. He was out cold before he hit the ground.

 _What had she done?_

 **TBC**

 **Reviews make me happy and upload faster. ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I'm sorry for the delay. I planned to upload much faster but anyway, here it is and I hope you'll enjoy.  
Thanks alot to those who left a review: 21oscar21, christellesvu, Roanie123, spacekitten2700, Heart Story and those two guest reviewer. A special thank you goes to laosvu18\- your review actually made my day. I hope I won't dissapoint you'all and please stay patient with the storyline, I'm getting there soon.  
Beta Reader: Charmita

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 **3\. Chapter**

Putting Elliot's life at risk so easily had been so selfish and so dumb. She should have known better, she shouldn't have dragged him into this mess in the first place. Since when did she become such a pathetic and weak person, since when did she call out for help to save her own ass. She had been so blind with despair for herself, for her own wellbeing that she'd accepted the possibility of Elliot being hurt or even being killed.

What kind of human being did that make her?

Her breath hitched when the whole impact of her actions, the amount of consequences based on her selfishness came back to her. The ramifications of calling out for Elliot, of calling out for help would take a terrible toll on her in the end. And there was nothing she could do about it, nothing she could do to change the timeline and let Elliot leave, safe and alive. Unbidden images of Elliot's lifeless body entered her mind and she couldn't stop the flood of guilt, anger and worry which overtook her senses.

Had she, in the end, indeed caused Elliot's death?

After she'd denied it 8 years ago during Gitano, after she had clearly stated she wouldn't have taken the shot which would have possibly killed Elliot too. She'd chosen Elliot over the job back then and she would do it again. The words of Dr. Hendrix echoed in her mind 'If you had to choose saving your partner and saving a member of the public. What would you do?' She hadn't answered it then, because she knew she couldn't say it out loud, she couldn't acknowledge it, not even to herself. It was simply wrong, wasn't it? As a cop she had a job to do, she had a duty to serve the public and not her partner. Her partner, her friend- the one she deeply cared about.

She knew she would choose him again, because she couldn't bare the risk of losing him or worse- of causing his death. So why couldn't she choose him over herself? She would give everything she owned, she would give her life for him- why hadn't she allowed herself to let him leave earlier? She'd had his back for twelve long years only to risk it now to save herself?

Oh god, what had she done?

She caught herself staring blindly ahead and then forced her eyes to focus on what was happening in front of her. She searched for any signs of life on him and stared at his back, waiting for any movement of his rising torso. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally able to make out his constant and shallow breathing.

She closed her eyes briefly. She needed to keep it together, not only for herself but for the both of them. She was responsible for this mess and one thing she knew for sure, she would do everything in her power to stop Lewis from harming any other soul because of her. She'd do whatever it took to prevent Elliot from getting hurt again. She wouldn't let anything happen to him just because of her, just because of her selfishness. She couldn't let anything happen to him, he had a family, had kids- he had a real life to go back to. She on the other hand, had nothing to lose but her own life, a beating heart and a haunted soul and she'd gratefully trade it in to protect him, to prevent his life from ending so abruptly. She'd have his back, no matter what.

Lewis was now bending over Elliot's collapsed body on the ground, checking his sides and pockets for his belongings. He fetched his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and some keys and his cell from his jacket. He put it all down beside him and grabbed the roller duct tape from the coffee table.

"We don't want him moving around, do we?" he joked while he continued wrapping a second layer of duct tape around his wrists.

Olivia's gaze wandered from Elliot's form back to Lewis and her heart began pounding faster against her chest, with every pulsation more blood- more adrenalin was pumped from her organ through her veins making her vicious headache throbbing more frantic against her temples and her cheeks turn a shade redder. As a result, her breathing became quicker and with her nose still sticky from being on the verge of crying just moments ago it was hard to breathe adequately. She was panting, trying to gulp enough air in to satisfy her burning lungs as her eyes followed Lewis movements.

For a small moment, he looked up at her from his task at hand and his cold eyes met hers. The corners of his mouth tucked up into a sly grin, obviously amused by the situation, by his power over the situation and simultaneously pleased by her powerlessness.

A certain heat was boiling up in her, an emotion too strong to hide or control was bubbling under the surface screaming mercilessly for release at the sight of him, by watching his ecstatic mood about the situation he'd caused.

She gripped the edges of the armrests tighter and yanked her head to the side, she couldn't look at him any second longer. Her own body was betraying her by reacting in such a malevolent way, it was exposing her by showing her true feelings to everyone, even the ones she'd rather hide. Her body strongly affected by rage and fury, reacting with an increasing pulse and a rapid breathing. She knew, she was getting hysterical because she wouldn't calm down any time soon but there was nothing she could do.

In this moment, every fiber of her being demanded to be released from that situation, every muscle of her body was primed and flexed and bursting with adrenaline-fueled energy, aching to break free of her restrains, of the nightmare she currently lived in and she was powerless to make it happen.

She'd never felt that kind of anger, this load of anger ever before. Yes, she'd been angry- even furious and she couldn't even count the number of times that had happened anymore but she'd never experienced emotions like that before. Briefly she wondered, if that was how Elliot always felt when she'd watch the redness making its way from his neck to his face and he used to hit something. She wondered if any anger management lesson would even be able to teach you how to control those strong emotions. How was it even possible to control something that controls oneself? An emotion that doesn't allows you to think straight, doesn't allows you to be yourself anymore. Something that just makes you see red.

Because that's what it was, she was seeing red. She felt like she couldn't breathe anymore, the air she was drawing in wasn't enough for her body to work with. The throbbing at her temples wasn't easing and she heard her heart slamming against her rip cage.

She was ripped out of her thoughts when she felt him approach her and before she could even turn her head around and look up, he had ripped the tape off her mouth. The movement hit her unprepared and the immediate pain shot through her nerves, making her gasp. She glared up at him, doing her best to ignore the burning pain on her skin because a greater part of her was relieved about being allowed to breathe decently.

"You son of a bitch!" she yelled at him as soon as she'd caught her breath. "He has nothing to do with this. Let him go!"

He'd made his way back to Elliot, who was still lying motionless on the floor. "Yeah?" He took his time to turn back around and look at her closely before his food collided with Elliot's side, aiming for his rip cage. Olivia was well aware of him watching her expression and continued to stare him in the eyes, the anger inside of her rising even more.

He raised an eyebrow and crossed the room back to where she was while speaking, "So he can run back to your little friends?" Reaching her, he squatted down in front of her and pulled out his gun, shoving it under her chin. "You think I'm stupid?" He spat, his voice dangerously low.

She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes briefly when the gun made contact with her skin, "Lewis-" she started with newfound determination, "-this is between you and me." She paused and softened her expression, trying her very best to convince him. "You don't need him."

He seemed to consider her words and pulled the gun back, rubbing it slightly against his own chin and leaning into it, still seeming to think about what she had just said. He looked up at her then, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head to the side. "He's important to you, isn't he?" he grinned.

The question took her a bit off guard and she didn't answer right away, giving him time to reach for her and stroke a strand of hair back behind her ear. She waited for him to look her in the eyes before speaking again, "Every innocent life is important to me!" she announced with conviction, emphasizing every single word. "Let him go. He won't tell anybody, I'll make sure of it."

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?" He mocked her, knowing very well she was doing just that. He stood up and pointed the gun directly at Elliot, "Maybe I should kill him right away." he said and disengaged the weapon's safety catch.

"NO!" It burst out of her before her mind was able to stop what her heart was screaming for her to do, giving away what she'd tried to hide all along- her bond to Elliot, her feelings and that he was indeed very important to her. "No." She repeated much calmer and looked him straight in the eyes, "He's a NYPD Detective." She lied, still not sure what he'd been doing for two years. "His squad, the entire department- hell, everyone will hunt you down if you kill a cop."

He chuckled, "Oh yeah? What do you think is the end game for your pretty head?" He lowered the gun slightly and walked back towards her, coming to a stop in front of her.

"Billy." She breathed, knowing the ice was very thin right now. "Let's think about what you're doing here." She would have raised her arms in any other situation, it was a part of her training but that wasn't possible right now, so she softened her voice. "You walk out that door right now, no one will know anything happened to me- to us. We can pretend this never happened." She said, both of them knowing it was an empty promise.

He quickly closed the distance between them and pressed his fingers against one of the fresh burn marks on her chest, making her cry out in pain. "What about this, huh?" he hissed, increasing the pressure on her wound. "These burns, huh? You would pretend this never happened?" he said in disbelieve.

She took a deep breath to cope with the pain he was causing but she wouldn't back down, not now and not ever. "Lewis!" she said, fire and pure hatred was dancing in her eyes, glaring right back into his cold ones. "You can stop this right now. Go! Get the hell out of New York and I promise, no one will come af-"

She was cut off when his hand suddenly collided with her right cheek, the force almost sending her over the edge to darkness but instead it took her breath away and left her head spinning. Before she could even attempt to try and take a breath, his hand wrapped itself around her hair and yanked her back harshly, making her cry out in agony. Her eyes instantly filled with tears at the unexpected new wave of pain and dizziness and her vision was blurry when she felt him inching his face closer to hers.

"Now-" he breathed, "-either you'll shut up on your own, or I'll shove this gun right down your throat and make you." He growled into her face and with one last pull he released her head. She took several breaths and blinked to regain her vision. She was still too out of it to follow his movements and gasped in shock when she felt his hands on her face only moments later, grasping her cheeks and forcing her mouth open.

Instead of a gun, which she'd expected, she felt another object forcefully enter her mouth followed by cold, burning liquid. She gasped and chocked, trying to cope with the amount of liquid by swallowing as much and as quick as she could but it was a lost battle from the beginning and she felt her reflexes losing it more and more when her lungs ran out of air. She struggled against his hands and tried to spit it out but the neck of the bottle was preventing that. Her eyes widened in fear and she felt a lonely tear roll down her cheek just when he pulled back, throwing the now almost empty bottle backwards- landing in a corner. She spit the remaining alcohol out and continued to cough and choke until she was able to breathe anew.

Still breathing heavily, she also tried to stay focused on his movements to prevent him from taking her by surprise again. Lewis was now pulling up a chair next to Elliot, the second chair of the pair she had and lifted Elliot onto it. He grabbed the roller of duct tape again and started to tie his feet to the chair.

She watched him quietly, not daring to speak up at the moment. She'd need to think about what she was going to say to him, she'd need to play her cards properly the next time. She sighed shakily, thinking about the mess they were trapped in and compared it to everything they already went through but came up with the conclusion that nothing they had ever experienced during their twelve years together could be compared to this situation and certainly not to whom they were dealing with. She had seen a lot of sadistic, psychotic people, a lot of insidious, raping predators had crossed her path but William Lewis was definitely the most terrifying of them all if not even the only person she truly feared. They weren't going to fool him like they had many others before, there was no playing good cop vs. bad cop here and he wouldn't fall for anything else either.

He would play with them- play with her until he'd manage to break her which wouldn't be that hard anymore by using Elliot as leverage against her and then, when she'd finally give in after he'd possibly killed Elliot, only to torture her and inflict even more pain she'd beg him to kill her too because there was nothing left to live for, she would die a cruel, lonely and painful death. It was just a matter of time until he'd notice how to use Elliot by threatening his wellbeing and his life and once they would've reached that point of no return, they would've lost the battle.

 **TBC**

Yes, I know I used some of the actual phrases from the episode. Hope you don't mind me changing them a bit. :D


End file.
